Saturday, September 6, 2008

#3 Dating RMs

I guess a more appropriate title for this post would be, ‘Freshmen girls complaining about dates with RMs, but secretly loving it.’How often did (or do) you hear the wails of an all too unfortunate young lady asked to go out with a boy that has just retuned home from Brazil?

“It’s just so weird!I mean, he’s an RM!!!”

“You better be careful, I bet he is going to want to marry you after the first date!”

“Oh, I wish I hadn’t given him my number!”

There is some truth to her concern, as there are some strange young men out there; however, that isn’t why she is complaining.BYU people, more specifically BYU girls, LOVE to complain about dates with RM’s.BYU girls like talking about dates enough already, but the RM factor makes it so much jucier!

Victoria’s date with Paul from the freshman ward is so bland compared to Jenna’s date with Evan that speaks Portuguese.However, in order not to hurt Victoria’s feelings, Jenna can’t bring it up like she is bragging, she has to complain about it.This way Victoria can console her, instead of hate her.They can then spend the next hour in the CanonCenter discussing how crazy it is that Jenna got asked out by an RM, instead of how cute Victoria and Paul are together.

It should be said, it is understandable these young ladies are excited by the new opportunities available to them on campus.Many of them come from high schools where the only Mormon boy was their brother and/or cousin.Why not secretly gloat in this sudden attention?However they choose to rub their popularity in their roommate’s face is up to them.

So, in order to get a BYU girls attention, or need a conversation starter, (if you don’t have the right stickers on your Nalgene® bottle) ask her about her freshman year.As she chit chats about her awesome roommates and awesome ward, casually bring up your ‘friend’ that went on a date with an RM freshman year. This is sure to bring up a shriek of horror as she recalls every RM from her Biology class that asked her out freshman year.Guaranteed, that is all the conversation material you need.

There is the occasional girl that ended up marrying the RM she went out with freshman year, if this is the case, you shouldn’t be trying to talk to her.It is important to start noticing the left hand before you even look at girl's face on campus (it’s better not to see what you can’t have).

You get it right. From the other side, sometimes, it takes us guys a long time to learn the rules. One day at the library, while I was talking to a young lady, one of the guys from my engineering classes stopped and chatted for a minute. Her first comment after he left was something about him being married. I told her he was single. She said he had a ring. Bingo! I had never noticed it in the two school years I had attended classes with him. Yet, the ring was about the first thing she saw.